Policy Measures to Promote Stable Foreign Trade Growth: Authoritative Response from Five Departments

2024-11-22 21:58 Source: Chinese Government Website Font Size: Default Large Extra Large|Print|

The State Council Information Office held a regular policy briefing on the morning of November 22. Representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, People's Bank of China, and General Administration of Customs introduced policy measures to promote stable foreign trade growth and answered questions from reporters. Let's look at the key points!

Will adjusting cross-border small package tax-free policies affect China's cross-border e-commerce development?

Ministry of Commerce:

The rapid development of cross-border e-commerce to date is mainly due to its unique advantages compared to traditional trade. Specifically:

First, it can meet personalised customer needs. Through big data analysis, cross-border e-commerce can design products targeting individual consumer needs, enabling quick design, small batch production, and market trend tracking - capabilities not available in general trade.

Second, delivery is fast. Cross-border e-commerce can either directly export small packages from China to foreign countries or transport goods via ships and aircraft for local small package distribution, ensuring quick delivery times.

Third, it saves costs. As everyone has experienced with e-commerce purchases, cross-border e-commerce eliminates physical store costs, personnel expenses, financial costs, and wholesale fees by connecting producers directly with consumers. Due to these advantages, cross-border e-commerce has strong competitiveness and has become a vital force in world trade, with an increasing share in international trade.

These three characteristics are not closely related to small packages. Therefore, after cancelling the preferential treatment for small packages, the inherent advantages of cross-border e-commerce remain unchanged, and it still maintains strong competitiveness.

To support the development of new business formats, the "Policy Measures on Promoting Stable Growth in Foreign Trade" has proposed specific measures, and we will continue to increase our efforts in the following areas:

First, strengthen supply-demand matching. We will organize foreign trade enterprises with cross-border e-commerce platform stores to connect with overseas smart logistics platforms, and support qualified regions in hosting cross-border e-commerce trade fairs and supply-demand matching events.

Second, improve compliance. Currently, China has 120,000 cross-border e-commerce export enterprises, most of which are small businesses. These enterprises encounter issues related to customs declaration, taxation, product quality, and intellectual property rights during e-commerce exports, so we need to help them with training to improve their compliance capabilities.

Third, vigorously develop cross-border e-commerce empowerment in industrial belts. We encourage platform enterprises and leading enterprises to cooperate deeply with local characteristic industrial belts, including 165 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, helping more foreign trade enterprises, especially small and micro businesses, connect with overseas buyers through cross-border e-commerce online platforms to obtain orders and participate in international trade.

Fourth, deepen international cooperation. China has signed 23 free trade agreements to date. In recently signed bilateral free trade agreements or ongoing upgrades of previous agreements, cross-border e-commerce has been included as a new clause to promote development with relevant free trade agreement countries. Meanwhile, as an important WTO member, China is actively promoting WTO e-commerce agreement negotiations, hoping for their early conclusion to provide a better development environment for cross-border e-commerce with more WTO members.

How does the Ministry of Commerce support foreign trade enterprises in response to international shipping market fluctuations?

Ministry of Commerce:

China is a major trading nation, with trade volume reaching 41 trillion yuan last year. Of this trade, 95% is transported by sea. This year, key maritime routes including the Red Sea, Suez Canal, and Panama Canal have faced obstacles, while some countries have experienced port worker strikes. These factors have disrupted international maritime trade and negatively impacted China's foreign trade transportation. The most direct result has been a significant increase in freight rates from China to Europe and the Mediterranean, along with extended transportation times.

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**Original Source (原文链接):

[中国政府网 - 促进外贸稳定增长的有关政策措施，五部门权威回应！](http://www.gov.cn/xxxx/2024-11-22/content_123456.htm)